Court documents reveal more about August Beacon Hill homicide

Investigators say case was a murder-suicide

Published 10:00 pm, Friday, October 8, 2010

Court documents released this week give more details about the Aug. 3 homicide on Beacon Hill.

In that case, police say Shawn Edward Hall, 39, was shot to death by Lakesha Shaniel French, who later killed herself on a dead end road in the 14400 block of Interurban Avenue South.

That morning, French asked her apartment complex neighbor to accompany her on some errands. They drove to Westwood Village where French purchased paperwork to complete a will, according to court documents.

At 1:18 p.m. that day the document was notarized at a UPS store, investigators said.

About three and a half hours later, police responded to a shooting in the 1400 block of South Hinds Street. A neighbor told police she was walking to her driveway when she heard shots, a scream and more shots.

She looked down the street and saw a woman leaning out of the passenger side of a car with a gun in her hand, shooting a man on the ground. The vehicle fled eastbound. The witness couldn't confirm that the shooter was the sole occupant, though she didn't see anyone else.

Another witness said the shooter entered the passenger side of the car before it drove away. No witnesses could tell police if there was a second person in the car, described as an oxidized blue sedan from the late 80s or early 90s.

Hall was shot six times and died at the scene.

About 3 p.m. that day -- roughly 10 minutes after the shooting -- police say French called her mother and said "that she had shot and probably killed her boyfriend, Shawn, that she still had the gun, and was going to kill herself," homicide detective Rolf Norton wrote in a search warrant affidavit.

The mother called 911.

About 4:50 p.m., police found French driving an oxidized blue 1985 Honda Accord. The tried to stop her, but she didn't pull over. After driving down a dead end road in Tukwila, French shot and killed herself.

Detectives found a will signed with the neighbor as a witness, notes to family members and a 9 mm pistol that matched the casings recovered at the homicide scene.

Hall's shooting dead was the eighth homicide in Seattle this year and one of 15 overall, not including officer-involved incidents. Of those, 12 have been shooting deaths.

A background check with the State Patrol shows French has a history of domestic issues and multiple felony convictions, including a 2007 felony conviction for unlawful firearm possession.

Police questioned the neighbor who accompanied French. That was part of a routine death investigation and police did not find evidence she was involved with a crime, Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said Friday.